New York Knicks team president Phil Jackson thinks Carmelo Anthony is perfectly-suited for the “role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played” in his beloved Triangle Offense, but cautions that Melo tends to be too much of a ball-stopper.

With a little more discipline, Jackson believes that Anthony can thrive in the Triangle.

From earlier: Phil says Melo can play an MJ or Kobe role in the triangle but tends to hold on to the ball too long: https://t.co/LKhzwH47J8

Anthony is averaging 23.5 points (on 43.6 percent shooting), six rebounds and 2.5 assists through the season’s first 21 games.

Per ESPN:

“Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop,” Jackson said in an interview with CBS Sports Network that aired Tuesday. “That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to [the triangle], he knows what he can do and he’s willing to see its success.”

Jackson’s comments were prompted by a question about whether Anthony can fit in the triangle offense. Jackson made it clear he believes Anthony can.

“He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played,” Jackson said. “It’s a perfect spot for him to be in that isolated position on the weak side, because it’s an overload offense and there’s a weakside man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.”

PJ: “No. But when they run it I want them to run it the right way. If you are going to do it, use your skills and run it the right way. I’m not frustrated at all. Derrick Rose missed three weeks of training camp (because of a civil trial). It’s totally understandable where we are as a ballclub. We have guards that do a lot of stuff off the dribble. I want them to understand they can do things off the pass. It has to be a combination.”

Can the triangle still be effective in today’s game, which has gone the “space and pace” route?

PJ: “If you want to learn the fundamentals of the game, you don’t bypass any of the basics, like how to make a post pass, how to set up a screen, what pivots you can use to escape pressure and force defenses to react. What are the passing lanes? You have to acknowledge that. You have five players on the floor. If you are going to drive you have to know where players will be on the court. If you are going to make a pass you need space between players and have a certain amount of lanes open. Appropriate space between players is 12-to-16 feet. Eighteen-to-20 feet is a little long to make an appropriate pass. We’ve extended that to create long lanes to allow players to roll to the basket and stretch the floor.”

So, is it safe to say the Knicks will not be a “space and pace” team any time soon?

PJ: “It’s my feeling when everybody does the same damn thing it becomes, ‘Who has the best Rolls Royce? Who has the best, fastest stock car in this race we are running?’ So if you have LeBron, wow, we’re going to do the same thing even though we don’t have the Rolls Royce? You have to be unique. You have to have something no one else is doing to have genius in this game. It becomes an ownership. I don’t care about the triangle. I care about systematically playing basketball. If the spacing isn’t right, if guys are standing on top of each other, if there aren’t lanes to be provided, or rebounders available to offensively rebound the ball, or we don’t have defensive balance when a shot goes up, all of these things are fundamental basketball. I follow it. I’m not railing, ‘This is inadequate’ or ‘This isn’t right.’ Just show me what will work. Are we running around for no reason? Can we hit the first cutter? Do we have the ability to hit the second option or are we just bypassing plays so someone can hit a 3-point shot? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Hornacek has said that he’s implementing “principles of the triangle” offense into the Knicks’ half-court offense. But he also wants his club to try to generate offense early in the shot clock in transition, where pick-and-roll would be employed.

Players say that they’ve run the triangle offense primarily after dead balls so far this season, which is much less frequently than it was run during Jackson’s first two full seasons as team president.

The Knicks rank 13th in offensive efficiency thus far. A bigger issue for the club is on defense; it entered play Monday ranked last in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions, which is likely bothering Jackson just as much as the offense.

New York got a bit of refuge last night when they defeated the Nets at Madison Square Garden, but at today’s practice, head coach Jeff Hornacek may have opened another can of worms when he commented on Phil Jackson’s favorite, the triangle offense.

Hornacek was asked to respond to Chauncey Billups, who said that the Knicks have, “a very bad system, the triangle” during an ESPN studio show. The first-year Knicks head coach told the New York Daily News that “guys, first of all, don’t like to run it:”

Hornacek said when teams are in their halfcourt sets they all run a variation of the triangle. The difference is that most NBA teams get into their offense quicker and that running the triangle exclusively will slow the pace.

“I think that’s where most people are coming from,” Hornacek said. “If you end up being a slowdown team and never end up getting easy buckets and you’re running that halfcourt set all the time… guys, first of all, don’t like to run it.

“But secondly, it makes it very difficult to get easy buckets early in the offense and I think in today’s game those early buckets are nice to get. We’re not running it every time. We’re mixing it here and there. Hopefully, for us it’s a good thing we can do when we need to execute a play on a dead ball that we have something to go to.”

Last season, Derek Fisher began to move away from the triangle and once he was fired and replaced with interim coach Kurt Rambis, the Knicks went back to running the old school offense. Hornacek pledges that Jackson has been hands off:

“Phil’s been great,” Hornacek added. “He’s not trying to take over and make us do anything. He’s giving us the leeway. There are some things that we do that aren’t the triangle stuff; our early stuff that quite honestly we probably thought he’d say ‘let’s not do that, or let’s not do this option.’ But he hasn’t said that at all.

“He’s just trying to give us hints on when we’re in the halfcourt sets. Just how to really execute it. It’s great help.”

New York Knicks point guard Derrick Rose is having a bit of trouble picking up the nuances of the Triangle Offense, and team president Phil Jackson was less than impressed while watching the squad practice his baby.

Derrick Rose said Phil Jackson got up during practice to teach a lesson because they didn't feed the post: "He came over, kind of grumpy."

The point guard said Thursday he had no previous knowledge of Phil Jackson’s offense except for the little experience playing the Lakers. And when the Knicks began their in-depth triangle teaching at the second session of Wednesday’s training camp, Rose discovered, “there’s like 40 to 50 options on one side of the floor. […] “It’s complicated a little bit right now because it’s new to us. It’s foreign,” Rose said. “But I think the more we work on it and the way the coaches are putting it into the offense, it’s a little bit easier.”

Rose said he has not yet had a conversation with Jackson about the triangle and, “I don’t want to bug him about it.” With Jeff Hornacek taking control, Jackson’s input during training camp has been limited while his offense is installed.[…] “(He spoke to us) a few times. He got mad at us one time because we were running the offense and we didn’t throw the ball into the post,” Rose said. “He came over, kind of grumpy a little bit. That was my first time ever seeing him like that.”

Rose, who grew up in Chicago and views Jackson as “a legend,” said tips on the triangle from his agent BJ Armstrong could only be so helpful. […] “Me and BJ are two different players. He was a shooter. Like I’ll knock down shots but my game is playmaking and I just hoop,” Rose said. “Like I’ll find a way to get it done. So BJ’s job was just to give Mike (Jordan) the ball and get out the way. I didn’t want to say it like that but that was his job. He tells me about (the triangle). He told me they had the personnel for it back when they played and I feel like we have the same personnel.”

“It’s not easy,” Van Gundy, an ex-Knicks coach, said. “Listen, I think they’re going to be 45 to 50 [wins], low 50s, in that range.”

“I think there’s a lot [of factors] that are sure things,” Van Gundy continued. “I think [Joakim] Noah is going to be a sure thing as far as how he plays. [Kristaps] Porzingis is going to have a better second year than he had as a rookie. I think he’ll be outstanding. [Carmelo] Anthony I think is going to be very, very good. Courtney Lee is going to be excellent as a glue type of guy in their starting lineup.

“I think a lot comes down to [Derrick] Rose’s health and play and then the bench. It will be interesting to see how that works out. But I certainly believe their starting lineup has the potential to be a 50-game winner without question.”

Okay. Let’s turn to the Knicks. There’s been a lot of criticism in the media about how ineffectively the team is running the triangle. Why is this so?

PJ: “Today’s players simply lack the skills to play the triangle. They know how to play one-on-one, catch-and-shoot, and they’ve mastered crossover dribbles, spins, playing off of screens and step-back shots. They don’t know how to execute things like inside-reverse pivots and other basic footwork. They have no sense of timing or organization. They don’t really know how to play five-on-five basketball. It’s strictly generational.

“That’s why Fish {Derek Fisher} wants to uptempo the offense. And why he spends a half-hour before practice doing lots of skills work.”

Jackson offered his bullish stance on the Knicks’ playoff chances in an interview with WNBC-TV. He was asked by the interviewer if he believed the Knicks could make the postseason and “maybe go even further.” […] “Why not?” Jackson said. “I don’t know what’s so great about what’s out here in the East. We can fill that role.”

Jackson was asked in the interview with WNBC-TV if he thought it was “realistic” to think the Knicks could make the postseason in 2016-17. […] “I think so. I think we’re getting experience. Kristaps [Porzingis] is still a young player; he may need another year of experience,” Jackson said. “But we have some experienced guys who can play.”

Jackson also said Monday that the spacing in the Knicks’ triangle offense needed to be tweaked to adjust to the prevalence of the 3-point shot in today’s NBA. […] “The 3-point line has become our affection, because it means more when we make a 3-point shot. So the spacing has changed dramatically,” Jackson said. “So the triangle can still be a part of that, but it has to adapt.”

]]>http://www.slamonline.com/nba/phil-jackson-says-knicks-can-make-playoffs-next-season/feed/0SLAMonlineJeff Hornacek: Kristaps Porzingis Can Be the Best Player in the NBAhttp://www.slamonline.com/nba/jeff-hornacek-kristaps-porzingis-can-be-the-best-player-in-the-nba/
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/jeff-hornacek-kristaps-porzingis-can-be-the-best-player-in-the-nba/#respondFri, 03 Jun 2016 19:35:44 +0000http://www.slamonline.com/?p=399839

During his introductory press conference as the newest head coach in New York, Jeff Hornacek didn’t hold back in his admiration of rookie stud Kristaps Porzingis. Hornacek says that K-Taps

The new Knicks coach lit up when discussing the Rookie of the Year runner-up in his introductory press conference on Friday, first saying: “I thought he was 7-foot-1, but I am told he’s 7-foot-3.” […] “He’s going to be able to do a lot of things as he moves forward in his career, he’s got an inside game, an outside game,” Hornacek said. “How is somebody going to guard him? Defensively he can help block shots and be a presence inside.”

And Hornacek sounded positively giddy about how he would use Porzingis in the hybrid triangle offense he plans to use in New York.

“You don’t see a guy 7-3 who can do multiple things,” Hornacek said. “You can see him in some high pick-and-rolls in the sets we have. I still believe we can get him on the post if teams want to put a smaller guy on him and take advantage of his height from there. Is he 19 or 20? When you have a guy that’s 20 years old and you can see what he can do already, there’s going to be high expectations and we are going to help reach them. Most of the guys in this league come into their own at the 24-, 25-, 26-year-old range. So he’s got such a bright future it’s going to be off the charts for him.”

UPDATE: The New York Knicks formally announced the hiring of Jeff Hornacek Thursday. WELCOME Jeff Hornacek to the #Knicks! pic.twitter.com/C46cgkoc3F — NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) June 2, 2016 Hornacek, 53,

Knicks president Phil Jackson met with Hornacek twice, choosing him over a finalist pool that included David Blatt, Frank Vogel and interim coach Kurt Rambis. Hornacek represents a departure from Jackson’s stated intention of running his famed triangle offense as New York’s primary system.

Hornacek was fired as the Phoenix Suns’ coach in February, halfway through his third season on the job. Hornacek was 101-112 in two-plus seasons, which included a remarkable franchise turnaround in his first year. Hornacek won 48 games in 2013-14 before roster changes and injuries played a part in a 39-43 record in 2014-15. The Suns bottomed out to 14-35 in 2015-16, which led to Hornacek’s dismissal.

]]>http://www.slamonline.com/nba/jeff-hornacek-reportedly-agrees-to-three-year-deal-with-knicks/feed/0SLAMonlineCarmelo Anthony on if Knicks Asked His Opinion Before Hiring Jeff Hornacek: ‘Whatever Phil Did, He Did on His Own’http://www.slamonline.com/nba/carmelo-anthony-on-if-knicks-asked-his-opinion-on-head-coachign-hire-whatever-phil-did-he-did-on-his-own/
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/carmelo-anthony-on-if-knicks-asked-his-opinion-on-head-coachign-hire-whatever-phil-did-he-did-on-his-own/#respondSun, 22 May 2016 18:38:16 +0000http://www.slamonline.com/?p=398607

Melo calls the Knicks' new head coaching hire a "new opportunity, something new to play with, something fresh, a clean plate."

The Knicks reportedly will hire Jeff Hornacek to be the franchise’s next head coach.

The 14-year NBA vet was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns from ’13-’16 and was fired in February 2016 following a 14-35 start. Hornacek amassed a 101-112 record and failed to make the playoffs in two-and-a-half seasons with the team.

The popular opinion was that Knicks president Phil Jackson would promote interim coach Kurt Rambis to the head position due to his relationship with Jackson and familiarity with the Triangle Offense.

Houston owner Les Alexander and general manager Daryl Morey met with Bickerstaff on Monday, as well as Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Sam Cassell and Houston assistant Chris Finch, league sources said. […] Other NBA teams have started reaching out to Bickerstaff about lead assistant coaching positions, and that’s where he’s transitioned his focus, league sources said.

After taking over following Kevin McHale’s firing in November, Bickerstaff went 37-34 as interim head coach, earning the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Houston lost 4-1 to defending champion Golden State in the first round. Finch has been regarded within Rockets management as a future head-coaching candidate. He led the Rockets’ NBA Development League affiliate in Rio Grande to a championship in 2009 before joining Houston’s staff in 2011.

Conversations with potential candidates are expected to include several prominent college coaches, sources said. […] Among the NBA candidates with whom the Rockets are working to set up interviews are former Phoenix Suns coach Jeff Hornacek and Charlotte Hornets assistant Stephen Silas, league sources said. There could be 10-15 – perhaps even more – candidates interviewed in the process, league sources said.

Watson, 36, began his coaching career last season with the San Antonio Spurs’ D-League squad.

He played 13 seasons in the NBA.

From the press release:

Now the 17th head coach in franchise history, Watson joined the Suns as an assistant coach this past offseason after working last season as an assistant coach for the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League. Watson became a coach following a 13-year NBA career as a point guard in which he appeared in 878 career games with Seattle/Oklahoma City, Memphis, Denver, Indiana, Utah and Portland from 2001-2014. Watson averaged 6.4 points, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steals for his career, posting highs of 10.7 points and 6.8 assists with the SuperSonics in 2007-08. Watson played for three NBA Coach of the Year Award winners throughout his 13-year career (Hubie Brown, George Karl, Scott Brooks), as well as Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan.

Prior to being selected 40th overall in the 2001 NBA Draft, the Kansas City, Kan. native was a four-year starter at UCLA, helping guide the Bruins to three Sweet 16 appearances and earning All-Pac-10 First Team honors in 2000-01.

Reportedly, Suns owner Robert Sarver had Nash high on his wish-list before Hornacek’s firing:

In his first full year of retirement, Nash had to be lobbied hard by some of his closest friends — Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Kerr’s assistant Bruce Fraser and Warriors team president Rick Welts — just to consent to the consulting position with Golden State. The arrangement with Golden State, sources say, calls for Nash to spend a few days per month with the league’s reigning champions.

Nash and Sarver still have a very strong relationship as well, as evidenced by the partnership they struck recently as part of the Sarver-led consortium that completed the purchase of Spanish Segunda Division soccer team RCD Mallorca earlier this month. Nash serves as a board member at RCD, with input on all soccer decisions. […] Yet sources say Nash, who turns 42 on Sunday, is reticent to take on bigger roles in basketball than he already has because of the time that would require him to be away from his family.

In addition to his work with the Warriors, Nash serves as the general manager for Canada’s senior men’s national team, after making his international debut for his country as a player while still in college and ultimately leading Canada to within one win of the medal round at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

The Phoenix Suns confirmed media reports Monday morning that head coach Jeff Hornacek has been fired. OFFICIAL: pic.twitter.com/8RMDjyKhpM — #WeArePHX (@Suns) February 1, 2016 The writing had been on the

Less than two years removed from being the NBA Coach of the Year runner-up to Gregg Popovich, Hornacek was fired upon the team’s early Monday return from an 0-4 road trip. […] The Suns have lost 19 of their past 21 games to be 14-35 (.286), which is tied for the NBA’s fourth-worst record and is on pace to be the franchise’s worst season since the inaugural team went 16-66 (.195).

The Suns will interview assistant coaches today before choosing an interim head coach. Corey Gaines, a former Phoenix Mercury head coach, was promoted from player development assistant to assistant coach before this season. Earl Watson and Nate Bjorkgren, a former D-League head coach, were promoted to front-row assistants on Dec. 28 following the firings of assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting.

The Suns were expected to contend for a playoff spot this season but are headed for a sixth consecutive non-playoff season, the longest postseason drought in franchise history. The Suns have lost 14 consecutive road games, tying for the franchise’s second-longest streak, but have been a difficult situation for Hornacek since the offseason, when his contract’s team option year for 2016-17 was not exercised and the Markieff Morris saga began with a trade request following his twin’s trade to Detroit. It only has worsened during the season with season-ending knee surgery for Eric Bledsoe and a groin injury to Brandon Knight to take out the team’s leading scorers and playmakers.

“The reality is, there’s only a half dozen championship-caliber organizations in the NBA over the last 25 years,” Sarver said. “My job is to find the right people and the right culture to eventually be one of those organizations, and it starts with me. I’m not shirking responsibility. […] The blame is to be shared from the top down. Our leadership needs to communicate better. It needs to provide a better culture that provides for more accountability and more motivation. We have a lot of good, young players. They need to be playing hard, aggressively and on the same page whether we win or lose. That’s what I expect going forward.”

Last year, the Suns allowed Marcus and Markieff Morris to act like fools without fear of repercussion. While Jerry Colangelo would’ve shipped both of them out of town on the very next flight, Sarver did the opposite. He was extraordinarily patient with the twins. […] Sarver also refused to pick up Hornacek’s option, which allowed him to enter the current season as a lame-duck coach. The ensuing chaos should not surprise anyone. And when (Jerry) Colangelo and former head coach Mike D’Antoni rolled into town together, with a one-win 76ers team that somehow beat the Suns on their home court, the outrage was palpable.

“I’m not sure it’s just the NBA,” Sarver said. “My whole view of the millennial culture is that they have a tough time dealing with setbacks, and Markieff Morris is the perfect example. He had a setback with his brother in the offseason and he can’t seem to recover from it. […] I’m not sure if it’s the technology or the instant gratification of being online. But the other thing is, I’m not a fan of social media. I tell my kids it’s like Fantasy Land. The only thing people put online are good things that happen to them, or things they make up. And it creates unrealistic expectations. We’ve had a number of setbacks this year that have taken their toll on us, and we haven’t been resilient. Therefore, it’s up to our entire organization to step up their game.”

According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, Jeff Hornacek’s job is “under immediate threat.” This report comes on the heels of Phoenix’s loss to the terrible Sixers on Saturday night.

The details:

The Phoenix Suns’ 5-15 nosedive, including a home loss Saturday night to the Philadelphia 76ers, has put coach Jeff Hornacek’s job security under immediate threat, league sources told ESPN.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Suns have been forced to contemplate a coaching change far sooner than they hoped because of a slide that has dropped them to 12-20 and 11th in the Western Conference, with fears growing within the organization that the team is no longer responding to Hornacek.

…

It was Philadelphia’s first road win since last March, as well as the first game of a two-game suspension for Suns forward Markieff Morris, who threw a towel in Hornacek’s direction after being pulled from a home loss Wednesday to 12-18 Denver. Morris has been angling for a trade since the offseason.

This is the final guaranteed season on Hornacek’s original four-year contract. Questions about his future with the club have been in circulation in coaching circles since the Suns elected not to pick up their team option on Hornacek for 2016-17 entering this season.

Morris did have 35 starts in 2014-15, but clearly feels he deserved more.

Morris also thinks the Suns failed to take advantage of his ability to cause mismatches.

From the Pistons’ team website:

And he sees this as his best opportunity to sink roots and carve out a role after 1½ seasons in Houston and 2½ in Phoenix. […] “Yes, it is. In Phoenix, I thought I should have started at the three. The guy that’s there now (P.J. Tucker) might have been a better defender, but as an all-around three, I thought I was the best we had. And I thought a lot of players thought that, too. But there’s a lot of opportunity here. I have a chance to come in and start right away. I’ve been in the league for five years. It’s nothing new to me. I have started my share of games. It’s not like I’m new to it. The only thing that’s new is that it’s the East Coast now.”

(Stan) Van Gundy plans to replace the post-up game that Greg Monroe provided with a dose of it from other players, Morris among them. That suits him, too.

“That’s always been a part of my game. With being a big three, I’ve got to utilize that. I don’t want to stand out on the wing and I’ve got a smaller guy on me. That tended to happen a lot in Phoenix where they didn’t utilize the mismatches. And I think that’s going to be a mismatch.”

Indiana probably doesn’t want another “problem” personality, and the Pacers don’t have much beyond a lowball offer without attaching a first-rounder. Morris would open up the floor a bit in Washington. He’d eat into the Wizards’ Kevin Durant cap room, but they could move him in a pinch after the season. The Kings and Knicks should take a look, even though neither has movable assets that would interest Phoenix — unless the Knicks are ready to engage in Carmelo Anthony trade talks. (They’re not there, yet. But they’re getting closer.)

Morris can already post and pass (“He’s an excellent passer,” Hornacek says), and he hit 31.8 percent from deep last season — just 3 percentage points below the league average. That’s not good enough to scare defenses, and the Suns hoped Morris would have made more progress by now. “We thought he’d be a little better,” Hornacek says. “If he’s right around 30 percent, that’s probably not conducive to him shooting a lot of 3s.”

Draymond Green shot 33.7 percent from deep, and he had free rein to jack five triples per 36 minutes. He even faced criticism for getting gun-shy in the Finals, when the Cavs invited him to fire away. Morris shoots 31.8 percent, and he’s a disappointment who regularly passes up wide-open 3s. […] Green and Morris are nothing alike on defense, of course. Green breathes fire, and Morris too often uses defense as a chance to catch his breath. “Some games he brings it, some games he doesn’t,” Hornacek says. “Maybe it’s conditioning. Maybe it’s him saying, ‘If I put the effort in on defense, then I can’t do it on the offensive end.’”

“He doesn’t draw enough fouls,” Hornacek says. Other Phoenix players have a bad habit of standing still while Morris surveys. That’s partly on those players and the coaching staff, but it’s also linked to where Morris likes to operate. He lives in that weird in-between space a step or two outside the paint, and that clutters up the most natural cutting lanes both inside and outside. “He doesn’t get the ball deep on the block, and sometimes there’s no place to cut,” Hornacek says.

Missing from the affair was forward Markieff Morris, the longest-tenured player on the roster. […] His absence was expected, and to be fair, his appearance was not scheduled.

Morris has kept largely to himself, shunning most in the organization ever since twin brother Marcus was traded to Detroit in July, a fact head coach Jeff Hornacek alluded to during his remarks to the evening’s invited guests at The Canyon Suites at The Phoenician. […] “Now we have one little thing we got to take care of, hopefully,” he said, smiling.

“Hopefully he can get here and we can all talk to him. I think once he gets here with the players — and maybe the players can help out in that regard — and realize that, probably like anything else, it happens when you might not be happy with the organization, but you’re a professional, you go out there and you play as hard as you can,” Hornacek said. […] “Really, when you get out there and start playing games, you’re not playing for the organization, you’re probably not even playing for your coaches, you’re playing for yourself and your teammates because that’s the bond that those guys have as players, so once he gets playing with these guys I think he’ll be okay.”

“He never really seemed to get it going and then it comes to the point where, if you’re not scoring and if your defense isn’t picking up, it’s hard to stay in the game,” Hornacek said. “The next guy is going, ‘I needed help here and the guy wasn’t here.’ We’re trying to develop something for the future, not just being out here for everybody to play in the game. We want to get to a top-notch winning level and you’ve got to do it on both sides.”

Green believes that Phoenix would have qualified for the postseason if he had played more in the second half of the season, and with free agency possibly looming this summer, Green’s representative fired back at Hornacek for publicly criticizing the 29-year old.

Per the Sporting News:

“It’s completely unfair to misrepresent Gerald and his game like this,” Kevin Bradbury of BDA Sports said. “You’re talking about a player that wants to win at any cost and is a tremendous locker guy and teammate. I don’t see the benefit for the coach to go about things this way.”

Green is in his second year with the Suns and posted his best game of the season Wednesday night against the Mavericks, scoring 30 points on 10-for-19 shooting. But after averaging 15.8 points in 28.4 minutes a game last season, he is down to 11.8 in 19.3 minutes this year. He can be a free agent this summer.

“The numbers show pretty clearly that Gerald is not the terrible defensive player he is being made out to be,” Bradbury said. “The Suns played him a lot last year, they liked what he brought, when he was rolling, the team was rolling, and no one was out there complaining about his defense. […] It’s unfortunate because the team isn’t where some people thought it would or should be at this point in the season. I’m not sure why that falls on one guy all of a sudden, especially when they have known all along what they have with Gerald. He can score, and can score a lot quickly, when you give him the minutes. He brings it on the defensive end, consistent with what the team brings as a unit. But when you hear the coach saying he is so bad that he can’t be on the floor? That’s nonsense. You have to wonder where that comes from and why.”

The Phoenix Suns had people scratching their heads last summer, when they inked Isaiah Thomas to a multi-year deal (this, despite having Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe on the roster.)

Head coach Jeff Hornacek must find minutes for this three points guards, and somehow keep them all happy.

Thomas, who was looking for a larger role than the one he had in Sacramento, is quite predictably having a hard time adjusting to his new reality in the Valley of the Sun.

Per CBS Sports:

A reporter began to ask him about the backcourt — Dragic played a season-low 21 minutes (Monday night in a 104-100 road loss to the Toronto Raptors), and sometimes it’s Thomas in that position. […] “It’s always me,” Thomas interrupted, looking and sounding frustrated. “It’s always me.”

Dragic said last week that the offense hadn’t clicked yet “because there’s only one ball and we’re all point guards,” via the Arizona Republic. Thomas said playing off the ball wasn’t new to him because he’d done it in college, but the minutes were an adjustment. […] “As long as I’m in the game, I’m happy,” Thomas said. “That’s the biggest thing. I know everybody wants to play. I feel like I can help this team in a big way.”

“It’s a tough situation,” Thomas said. “But you’ve just got to be ready for whatever circumstances coach puts you in. You gotta be ready when your name is called, but I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s tough.” […] “It’s not what I expected,” Thomas continued. “But coach has a tough job. Putting all of us on the floor and trying to mix up the minutes, it’s tough for him. So it’s not just tough for us as players, we just gotta be ready when our name’s called and just know, I mean, coach is trying to do what he thinks is best for the team to put us in a position to win. But the key word is it’s a tough situation. For all of us.”

After offering him the gig, the Phoenix Suns are expected to ink Jeff Hornacek to a three-year deal to coach their team. Per the AZ Republic: “The Suns quickly acted after impressive interviews from Hornacek, the popular former Suns player who has been an assistant coach for Utah. He was interviewed in Charlotte for its head coaching job and Philadelphia also was interested in him. […] Hornacek, 50, joined the Jazz as a shooting coach shortly before the 2007 playoffs and moved into a full-time assistant coach role in February of 2011 when Tyrone Corbin, his former Suns and Jazz teammate, took over the Jazz coaching job from Jerry Sloan. Hornacek was known for his work with Utah’s younger players. His coaching style brings a lot of the intelligence that he was known for as a player and an even-keeled demeanor that can turn disciplinarian when necessary. […] Hornacek will be the 16th head coach in Suns franchise history and the fifth since the 2007-08 season. Horancek was a finalist when the Suns chose Terry Porter in 2008 and a finalist with no bench experience for the Boston head coaching job in 2004 when Doc Rivers was hired.”

While four teams are busy fighting for their Playoff lives, the Suns are looking ahead, trying to figure out who their next head coach will be. According to Yahoo! Sports, that job is probably going to be given to Utah Jazz assistant (and former player) Jeff Hornacek: “One of the Phoenix Suns’ popular former players – Jeff Hornacek – has been offered the franchise’s head coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Suns and Hornacek will work the weekend to finalize contract parameters on an agreement, sources said. Hornacek is eager to be the Suns’ next head coach. The Suns and Hornacek have already started work on assembling an assistant coaching staff. … The Suns met with Houston Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff on Friday and have received permission to interview Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford. Clifford remains a strong candidate for head-coaching openings with the Bucks and Charlotte Bobcats. The Suns former interim coach, Lindsey Hunter, also interviewed for the job.”

On this day 12 years ago, the Portland Trail Blazers knocked the Utah Jazz out of the Playoffs with a 81-79 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. That game would also turn out to be the final time Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek would step onto an NBA court; “Horny” would retire that summer after 14 years in the NBA. The 6-4 guard was one of the best shooters the game has ever seen (his career shooting percentages: 49.6 percent from the field, 40.3 percent from three-point range and 87.7 percent from the free throw line), and a pretty good passer as well (he averaged 4.9 assists per game), but as Russ Bengtson discovered in the following feature, which ran in SLAM 27 (August, 1998), there was one thing he couldn’t do. Read on… —Ed.

by Russ Bengtson

It’s 11:25 a.m. in New York—9:25, Salt Lake time—and whichever way you look at it, it’s far too early for Chris Morris. The Jazz forward is minding his own business, sitting quietly in the visitors’ locker room of Madison Square Garden, lacing up his purple-and-white And 1s. Answering inane questions is the furthest thing from his mind. He just wants to rub the sleep from his eyes, get his warmups on and go shoot a couple of 30-footers. So when he’s asked whether he’s ever seen teammate Jeff Hornacek dunk, it catches him completely off-guard.

“No,” Morris says slowly. “I wish he could, you know? I mean, he can shoot, now he’s just gotta put another thing to the top of his game. We don’t know how long he has.”

Morris is serious. Does he actually believe a 6-4, 34-year-old with bad wheels (four operations and counting on the left knee alone) can learn to dunk? “But Chris,” I plead, “isn’t it getting a little late for that?”

Morris looks up. “Yeah,” he agrees. But you never know. You can always bring out something.”

The normal reaction is to laugh and walk away. Cautiously. Because Morris means every word he’s saying.

As if to illustrate the ridiculousness of Morris’s last statement, Hornacek himself walks out of a (closed to the media) back room. He stops at his locker, grabs his logo-free white socks and a pair of nondescript white Nikes and returns to the privacy of the back. He doesn’t say a word.

Hornacek, dunk? Yeah, right.

In his civvies—a pale yellow Hilfiger button down, decidedly un-baggy black jeans and low cut black boots—standing an unassuming 6-4, he looks more like the accountant he almost was than the NBA starter. Look at him in uniform, that Coors-Light lookin’ No. 14. This guy’s an NBA player? Maybe at a fantasy camp. Or maybe in the late ’50’s, when everybody ran around in shorts with two-inch inseams, shooting 30-foot set shots and dribbling out the clock to preserve 29-26 wins. Yeah, Horny’d be right at home in grainy black-and-white film, runnin’ the break with Russell and the Cooz. But the NBA in the ’90s? In Mike’s house? This guy? Get real.

Look at Hornacek’s stats, and you might think you understand. Through 70 games this season, he was averaging 14 points, 4.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per. Shooting 47 percent for the field, 43 from behind the stripe. He even won the three-point shootout at All-Star weekend this year. “Oh,” you say to yourself. “he’s Mark Price.” Wrong again.

What you see—the dorky haircut, the scrawny physique, the goofy smile, the three-point precisions—is not all you get. There are no records kept for “picks set,” no rewards for passes that would surprise even Dionne Warwick’s friends. I could tell you that Jeff Hornacek is the most complete two-guard in the league, and I’d be lying. But if you can name one other NBAer who has made the most out of so little—one other player who does so much and get absolutely no recognition—I’ll be waiting. Horny may look like a YMCA weekend regular, but he’s as much a warrior as anyone else in the league. Remember that.

“The guy’s incredible to me, man” Jazz center Greg Foster says. “He shoots the ball better than anybody I’ve seen. And it’s not just his outside shot—he’ll go to the hole and give you some schoolyard shit, too.” Foster laughs. “That’s what really messes us up—we’re like ‘Damn, did you just see that shit?'”

Oh yes, that’s another element of Horny’s game the stat line won’t tell you about. He may be on point from 23-9, but let him drive to the hole, and he’ll lay something on you that wouldn’t be out of place at Rucker. Haven’t seen that part of his game? Feel free to ask the Blazers about it. They’re probably still reeling from an April 1 loss when Horny poured in a season-high 31, mostly on off-balance runners—straight schoolyard shit.

“Hornacek was at another level,” Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said afterward. “He makes shots people shouldn’t even shoot. Damon Stoudamire agreed: “He wasn’t even looking at the hoop on half the shots.”

Horny’s teammates see that stuff every night, and even they get startled now and then. “Aw, shhhhhh, everybody is [surprised],” Shannon Anderson says. “I think sometimes he’s surprising himself—you see him comin’ down the court smilin’. But you know, that’s the nature of his game—his game is to make those crazy shots comin’ down the stretch.”

Always has been. “It started in grade school,” Hornacek says. “I went into high school at 5-2, so I’ve always had to shoot it up high, and I’ve always just done that.

“I might be one of the worst practice players in the world, ’cause I shoot all those shots in practice—you gotta shoot ’em in practice before you ever shoot ’em in a game. I may miss a bunch in practice, but all of a sudden, in a game, it’s not that difficult a shot.”

Maybe it was the height, maybe it was the practice habits, maybe it was just the fact that his sweet J was still a long way off—but Hornacek didn’t get much burn his first two-and-a-half-years at Lyons (IL) Township High. [Editor’s note: Can you imagine going through high school nicknamed “Horny”?]. It took a teammate’s suspension to land him a starting spot. He grew to a whole 6-2, 150 by his senior year. And while the increased PT got him some local recognition, and he even made some state all-star teams, no major DI schools acknowledged his existence. Then again, neither did any minor ones.

“We played in a system that was a slow-down game,” Hornacek says, “and I think that people believed I couldn’t play the up-pace game, man-to-man and stuff like that. I wasn’t recruited.”

What he did get was an invitation from an Iowa State assistant who knew his father. “He said, ‘Hey, if you want to come out and practice with us, and basically try out, come on up,'” Hornacek remembers. Having no other offers, he accepted. “I practiced with ’em from the end of January to the end of their season, and they they decided to give me a scholarship.”

The next year, he averaged 5.4 ppg as a freshman. He went on to become the school’s fourth-leading all-time scorer, despite running the point his final three years and never averaging more than 13.7 per. Hornacek led the Cyclones to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Still, he was a low profile players on an low-profile team. No one was dying to draft him. And, despite his consistent play, he was certainly no lock for the League.

“[I started to think about the NBA] about three-quarters of the way through my senior year,” Hornacek says. “I had never planned on it, and even after that, when coaches said that ‘teams are calling for films,’ and ‘you’ll get drafted in the second or third round’—I knew even then the odds of making it were still slim. So I actually had two job interviews in Des Moines, Iowa, at accounting firms, and I told ’em, ‘Hey, are you gonna let me go try out, and if I don’t make is it still offer me a job?’ Both of ’em said yes, so I knew if I didn’t make it, I’d just head back there, and I’d have a job set up.”

The 1986 NBA Draft will forever be associated with a player who never even played a second in the NBA. We all know the tragic tale of Boston’s no. 2 pick overall, Len Bias, and his draft night cocaine overdose. While Bias payed the ultimate price for his drug use, he wasn’t the only known user in his draft class–Chris Washburn, William Bedford, Roy Tarpley all were top 10 picks in 1986 whose careers were cut short by drug problems.

But all the negativity overshadows an oddity from this draft year–the abundance of stars that got drafted outside of the first round. In fact, more stars got selected outside of the first round than in it. Brad Daugherty was the only All-Star to come out of 1986’s first round, while Mark Price, Dennis Rodman, Kevin Duckworth and Jeff Hornacek went in the second round and Drazen Petrovic in third. A rare occurrence we’ll probably never see again.

Boxing and mixed martial arts are big on rating its athletes on a “pound-for-pound” basis. In that vein, we’d like to nominate Dennis Rodman as the “all-time pound-for-pound undisputed rebounding champion of the world” (with the possible exception of Elgin Baylor). Only 19 players grabbed more NBA rebounds than the 6’7″ 210lb Worm, who lead the League in boards per game seven years in a row (including ridiculous averages of 18.7 and 18.3 in back-to-back years). A two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA player, Rodman also made eight All-Defensive Teams. He should (but probably won’t) make the Hall of Fame, if voters don’t let his “eccentricities” get in the way.

The late 1980s-early 1990s saw a point guard renaissance in the NBA, similar to what the League is experiencing today. And Mark Price was definitely a big part of this resurgence of floor generals, making four All-Star and All-NBA teams during his career. What Price really excelled at was shooting, as he hit over 40 percent from three-point range during his career and his 90.4 percent rate from the charity stripe is the best all-time.

Back injuries cut Brad Daugherty’s career short (and pushed him into the NASCAR world), but his ailments didn’t stop him from teaming up with Mark Price for one of the best one-two punches in the NBA. Despite only playing six full seasons (and parts of two others) in the League, he still made five All-Star teams and an All-NBA team.

There is a good chance even a hardcore NBA fan wouldn’t guess that Jeff Hornacek is the career leader in scoring and assists from the 1986 NBA draft class. There’s also a good chance that if you saw him at your local YMCA you wouldn’t pick him to play on your pickup team (unless you realized he was Jeff Hornacek). But Hornacek had a quiet, yet outstanding, 13-year NBA career, scoring in double figures his last 11 years in the League and finished with career averages of 15, 5 and 3.

Another player whose career was tragically cut short, Hall of Famer Drazen Petrovic was one of the early European trailblazers in the NBA. The Croatian star was just coming into his own before his death at age 28, averaging over 20 ppg his last two seasons and making Third Team All-NBA in his last year in the League.

Unfortunately death seems to be all around this draft class, as Kevin Duckworth also passed away far too soon, at the age of 44. The rotund 7-footer centered the powerhouse Portland teams of the late 1980s-early 1990s, made two All-Star teams and won the Most Improved Player award.

The Rifleman Chuck Person was a joy to watch play, as he never shied away from a shooting and/or trash talk battle with an opponent. The 1986-1987 Rookie of the Year, he enjoyed his best season in 1989 with Indiana, averaging 22, 7 and 4.

Starting his career off as a high-flying star, posting big numbers for Cleveland and the Clippers (he was good for about 20, 6 & 5 a night), Ron Harper and his ugly, twisting jumper settled into an important supporting role with championship Bulls and Lakers squads.

Probably the most talented player in this draft class, unfortunately Arvydas Sabonis didn’t enter the NBA until he was in his 30s and hobbled by injuries. As this highlight reel from his younger days shows, he was truly one of the most talented 7-footers of all-time (and also had one of the best all-time mullet-mustache combos).